Sustainability is discussed in Executive Order 13514

The new Executive Order sets new goals for the coming decade. The order requires that 95% of all new products and services be sustainable. The Office of Small Business Utilization compiled a video to assist with determining what exactly that means, click here to view.

The General Services Administration (GSA), has their own big push towards sustainability. Their initiative which includes sustainable buildings, green products and services and putting policies in place for a greener tomorrow. Their push is to make it more accessible for other agencies to purchase sustainable products and services. Take a look at their initiative here: http://www.gsa.gov/sustainability/ 

If you company offers green certified products or services now is a perfect time to make the move into Federal Contracting. Give us a call today.

FY 2016 GSA Supplier Relationship Management Survey!

The 2016 Supplier survey is out and all contractors on schedules should have received emails in the last couple days explaining the importance of giving the GSA feedback and completing the survey. The survey takes measure of whether the program is beneficial to you, whether you are looking to renew your contract, and if you consider the GSA to be your first choice among government acquisition vehicles.

We all get surveys in our emails always asking for our opinions. The GSA is no different than any other company, looking to improve its customer service, customer relations, and most importantly its’ effectiveness. Plagued by pricing issues and TAA compliance issues over the last year, the GSA is in a transformative moment, attempting to put its vendors first.

Responding to the survey should be top priority to contractors. If we don’t tell the GSA what problems exist or what about the program is great, the GSA cannot adapt to make the marketplace better. It’s vital the contractors are honest about their experiences, grievances, and successes. Past surveys have sparked changes in the GSA like more industry days, updated welcome packages from new contracts, and the plain language roadmap that was released for schedule 70 with more schedules to come.

Each company gets a personalized link, so unfortunately, we cannot share ours to lead you to the survey, but check your email for anything coming from survey@notify.gsa.gov. It’s waiting for you to share your thoughts! 

Economic Price Adjustment: 552.216-70

In June of this year, Clause 552.216-70 was changed, which may cause some headaches for GSA contractors. All economic price adjustments (EPAs) in Schedule contracts are made in accordance with clause I-FSS-969 or clause 552.216-70, depending on which clause you chose when you applied for your contract. In the past, the percentage of Economic Price Adjustment was set at a 10% increase every 12 months. As of June, this ceiling has been lowered to 4%. But what does that mean for contractors that need to increase pricing?

First, the maximum increase per 12 months has now been severely limited from what was allowed in the past. Contracting officers like to say that Contractors may ask for 4% but based on competitive research that does not mean that 4% will be granted. When increasing pricing, the most important thing is to do your research. If you are a service-based Labor Category company, take a look at the Contract-Awarded Labor Category (CALC) tool to help you determine whether your pricing falls within competitive range. CALC will allow you to narrow down your LCATs by schedule and experience levels to see at what prices other Contractors are actually winning work with similar LCATs. If you are a product based company, your best bet will eventually be the roll out of the Formatted Product Tool to your schedule. To learn more about the Formatted Product Tool, Click HERE.

The change to a 4% EPA increase under clause 552.216-70 puts pricing increase more in line with clause I-FSS-969 for escalation rates. Although the clause does not contain language specifying what the maximum allowed escalation rate is, standard practice has uncovered that more than 2.5% escalation per year isn’t being awarded at this time.

Overall, Contractors should be aware that they won’t be able to increase pricing as much year to year anymore and those of you applying for new schedules with LCATS should consider going with clause I-FSS-969 over clause 552.216-70 simply because the numbers are now so close and the escalation clause requires less work to increase (since its automatic). 

Data Center Optimization Initiative

GSA has recently announced that they will serve as a managing partner for The Office of Management and Budget’s Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI). This particular initiative requires federal agencies to “develop and report on data center strategies to consolidate infrastructure, improve existing facilities, achieve cost savings, and transition to more efficient infrastructure, such as cloud and shared services”.

After the approval of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act in 2014, DCOI became the pillar of promoting Green IT and reducing energy consumption in data centers. Data Center consolidation and optimization is the overarching goal.

As a leader and early adopter of IT products, GSA’s inclusion and management of DCOI makes perfect sense. To achieve cost savings on the procurement side of things, GSA’s initiative to “make it easier” for newer IT companies to become GSA contractors plays directly in, increasing cost savings and early adoption for other agencies.

Boiling it down to the simplest terms combining GSA’s “Making it Easier” initiative with DCOI creates costs savings for the government on both sides, procurement and then usage. As budgets are cut and the government becomes more and more frugal with spending, costs savings are being searched for everywhere and sacrifices in quality of product are not accepted by government workers. The partnership between GSA and DCOI should ensure that quality standards are kept high and organized buying power brings prices down. 

Mentor-Protege Program will be open for all small business

Prior to the Small Business Administration's ruling on July 25th, the Mentor-Protege Program was only open to those businesses that were certified as an 8(a) company. While the Program will remain separate for 8(a) companies, the program itself will be almost identical.

The Program is designed to assist the Protege with developing their business. Protege's must submit a business plan which is approved by the SBA. This business plan then becomes the goals that the Mentor will assist in achieving. Not every relationship is the same, they are built on the needs and the strengths of the companies involved.

So as a Protege what type of mentors can you expect? A Mentor can be a company of any size but must be a for-profit entity. The only other requirement is that the Mentor must be able to demonstrate that it can fulfill all obligations needed by the Protege.

On the flip side, how do you become a Protege? You must qualify as a small business, which is determined by the size standard of the primary NAICS code. The SBA is also allowing for companies to submit an application to the program under their secondary NAICS if that is the business that the company is attempting to develop.

The new ruling will officially take effect August 24th and is rumored that the SBA will begin accepting applications to the program October 1st.

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